Adam - Giselle / Kirov, Petipa, Mezentseva
by Preben Montell
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Angelina Kabarova, Galina Mezentseva, Gennady Selyutsky, Kirov Ballet, Konstantin ZaklinskyDirector: Preben Montell
Conductor: Viktor Fedorov
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 108 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
Movie Reviews of Adam - Giselle / Kirov, Petipa, Mezentseva
Movie Review: All around disappointing performance
Summary: 2 Stars
At times one simply has to call a spade a spade, and this is one of those times. This dvd is a disappointment in every way. A shame too, because as of now it is the Kirov's only official video of the great Romantic ballet Giselle.
Where do the problems begin? For one, let's start with the technical issues. The video and sound are very poor. The video is frequently grainy and fuzzy, the sound tinny, and the stage is way too lit for the crucial Act 2, destroying the moonlit glow that is so crucial for this act to work.
Then the performances. Galina Mezentseva is a ballerina whose appeal eludes me. Other reviewers have called her a "bag of bones," and it's true, her tall, broad-shouldered, overly bony body shape is not very pleasing to look at, as is her overly gaunt face. But more importantly, she is fatally unable to convey youth, radince, and innocence in Act 1, and a supernatural gentleness/spirituality in Act 2. Her acting in Act 1 is hammy, especially the mad scene. Those are real tears, but it seems overwrought, and the closeups do not flatter her. The only part of the ballet she does very well is the crucial moment when she is made to turn as a Wili in front of Myrtha. Her spins are furious, and as is she's possessed. Otherwise her technique is good but without artistry to back it up what is there? But otherwise, I've seen so many Giselles superior to her in both technique and artistry. Alessandra Ferri. Alina Cojocaru. Diana Vishneva. Carla Fracci. Svetlana Lunkina. Galina Ulanova. Natalia Makarova. From the clips, Margot Fonteyn. Even Svetlana Zakharova, a dancer who I'm not all that fond of, performas the role with a better fluidity of movement. Unusually for someone trained in the Vaganova style, her movements have this jerkiness about them. She also has very little elevation. This doesn't stop her from shamelessly milking the applause, she actually breaks character by accepting a bouquet of flowers at the end of the "Spessivtseva" variation (that's the variation where Giselle has to hop across the stage on pointe), even though the ballet isn't over yet. One has a feeling that she is performing as though she is a Diva, and not as Giselle.
The Albrecht, Konstantin Zaklinsky, has almost zero chemistry with Mezentseva. His dancing is mediocre at best, and he runs out of steam in the marathon Act 2. His form falters. He fails to delineate Albrecht's character. Is he a cad, is he genuinely in love? Does he redeem himself? We never find out with his middling performance.
The only redeeming features of this video are the Kirov corps, which are their usually excellent selves, although even they have their sloppy moments, as they drop their flowers left and right. The second redeeming feature of the perforance is the Myrtha of Tatiana Terekhova. Fearsome, with an impeccable technique and an implacable demeanor, Terekhova is the only person who seems to understand what the ballet is all about. Altynai Asylmuratova (what a Giselle she would have been!) has a small cameo as Moyna, one of Myrtha's girls.
The Kirov production looks old and tattered. In the second act, the Wili flowers are strewn all over the stage. In other words, it's as if they decided to preserve for posterity a very mediocre performance. A shame.
As an interesting sidenote, during the curtain calls, Tatiana Terekhova receives a HUGE bouquet of flowers, much larger than Mezentseva's smaller bunch. And for a minute, you see a rather smug smirk flit across Terekhova's face.
Disappointing in every way.
Summary of Adam - Giselle / Kirov, Petipa, Mezentseva
Adam's romantic ballet, Giselle, first seen in 1841, was the finest of the ballets staged in Paris during the age of Romanticism. Over the years Giselle disappeared from the repertory outside Russia, and has only survived through the recognition of its quality and the preservation of its traditions by the Kirov Ballet. The role of Giselle has been compared to that of Hamlet. She is a simple peasant girl, driven from joy to madness and death through an unhappy love. She is transformed into a ghost and ordered to help destroy the man who betrayed her, while still seeking to sustain him because of her undying love.Giselle: Galina Mezentseva. Albrecht: Konstantin Zaklinsky. Bertha: Angelina Kabarova. Bathilde: Anelina Kasherina. Hilarion: Gennadi Selyutski. Wilfred: Valentin Onoshko. Orchestra of the Kirov Theatre of Opera and Ballet; Conductor Viktor Fedotov. Music: Adolphe Adam. Choreography: Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, revised by Marius Petipa.
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